Recognise 012: DJ Lag
Recognise is DJ Mag’s monthly mix series, introducing artists we love that are bursting onto the global electronic music scene. This month, we speak to Durban’s self-proclaimed “gqom king”, about the future and history the sound.
DJ Lag is a pioneer of one of the most exciting electronic music movements to surface this decade. Over the last few years, gqom has steadily infiltrated soundsystems across South Africa, through music from the Durban-based producer alongside contemporaries like Rudeboyz, Emo Kid, Dominowe, Distruction Boyz, Julz Da Deejay, Naked Boyz, TLC Fam, Griffit Vigo and many more. Stemming from the the city’s townships, the sound has shifted from an underground DIY scene to becoming a prominent feature in South Africa’s charts. And it’s not just big in the country it was born, with Europe-based DJs that exist on the bleeding edge of electronic music championing the sound, including Kode9 — whose Ø party hosted DJ Lag last July — Shannen SP, Ehua and more all adopting it into their sets.
This year has already seen Gwala spin at Berghain, as well as clubs in Turkey and Sweden, whilst his International Pantsula tour makes stops in Denmark, France and, of course, South Africa. His Gqom Is The Present tour at the end of last year also saw him travel to the US, Canada and Australia, certifying that gqom has gone global. “Last year, gqom producers kept saying, ‘gqom is the future’,” he explains. “That was a big hashtag that was happening in South Africa. When I started the tour I felt like gqom is the present,” he smiles.
Starting as a micro-scene in Durban, gqom is personified by the dark, tense and hypnotic music found on DJ Lag tracks like ‘Ice Drop’ and ‘Khonkolo’, with the hard-hitting percussive sound’s name translating from Zulu as hit or drum.
Using a heady blend of hip-hop samples, chopped and skewed samples of African chants, Maskandi drums — a form of Zulu folk music prominent in South African townships — and broken beats, as it made its way out of South Africa, gqom created a buzz akin to dubstep and footwork when they first surfaced. It also utilises more familiar sounds found across house and techno, but to label gqom under another genre cheapens its ability to stand alone as a sound; one that was given the chance to fully develop as a youth culture away from the world’s gaze in Durban.
Listen to DJ Lag’s Recognise mix above, and read the full interview here: